


Ex-crutio!

by Malsang



Series: My Dark-Light Muse [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Canon Compliant, Catharsis Ending, Curses, Duelling, IF you don't let your own sordid imagination get the better of you, M/M, Needs betaing for accent-dialogue improvements, Unforgivable Curses (Harry Potter)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-20
Updated: 2019-01-20
Packaged: 2019-10-13 09:37:17
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,057
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17485703
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Malsang/pseuds/Malsang
Summary: Follow up work to An Alchemical Affair With Darkness.A renowned master of Occlumency who has a talent for creating new spells, shouldn't be called a coward unless you are prepared to accept the consequences of doing so, whatever they may be.





	Ex-crutio!

Sometimes the words just come out of nowhere, and a new spell is born that surpasses all other dark spells that have gone before it - this was his reasoning, in hindsight, for what happened that day... 

* * *

 

They had been dueling, sticking to non-verbal spells. It was hard to find a duelling partner who was willing to play no-holes-barred; it was how people got killed. But you couldn't learn how not to get killed without gaining experience in a lethal situation.

The only limits they agreed to, was to remain on the standard-sized dueling runner. No casting from outside its boundary, no casting at an opponent that had been driven off the runner.

Severus had driven Lucius off several times already - much to the pure-blood's annoyance - when suddenly he voluntarily stepped off. "Enough. We should change the rules."

"Lost your nerve, Severus? Are you really too proud to lose fairly to me?"

"I want to change the rules."

"To what?"

"No Unforgivables."

"Worried that I might kill you?"

"Hardly. I haven't been casting any for the last few minutes, and you still cannot land a curse."

"I haven't let any of your spells through either." Lucius pointed out.

"Exactly my point. You're too busy defending against the killing curse to actually attack me full-out."

"Fine, no aiming to kill, but we keep the other Unforgivables."

Five minutes later, Lucius stepped off. "You still aren't casting Unforgivables. Worried that you will get through my defences?"

"Merely waiting for you to actually land something."

"As am I. I dare you, land a decent spell if you can!"

"You may regret that."

Lucius smirked. "I'm sure I can survive anything that you are prepared to cast."

They began again in earnest. Lucius got clipped by a pathetically weak Crucio a couple of times, but nothing else got through. The third time he didn't even bother to block a Crucio, and he laughed aloud at how little it stung. "Weak!" he taunted. "You are an utter coward." he added dismissively.

He blocked the next spell - he knew he had blocked it successfully - but it went through anyway. He felt a bit like he was painlessly exploding from the inside as he collapsed, folding at the knees and falling backwards, struggling to breathe, twitching uncontrollably. He blinked in surprise when Severus came into view, "Did you teleport?"

"Did you hit your head?" The snark just didn't have its usual bite, acid as it was intended to sound.

"You were worried," he concluded.

Severus looked amazingly embarrassed at this. "If you're not hurt, get up."

"What was that?" he felt surprisingly relaxed and preferred to remain laying down.

"I'm not entirely sure."

"Hogwash. You can't cast a spell without knowing your own intention."

"I told you, I'm not Entirely sure what my intention was."

"So cast it again."

"Whilst you are just lying there, not even trying to defend yourself."

"Severus, you just cast something that ignored my best defense. If you can figure out what you did, you might actually have something useful."

"You're not even going to try to block?"

Lucius sneered, "It may not be blockable, but its obviously only a half-baked, impotent spell when it lands."

The spell hit him again, only this time it didn't cut off immediately. Yet, apart from the sensation of intensity that made him twitch a little, there was nothing. "Just like your Cruciatus curse, weak!"

"Use your head. What if it's lethal?"

"Then I'll be dead sooner or later anyway. That's why any of us are prepared to play no-holes-barred. But I seriously doubt it's lethal. You're way too worried about it being lethal for it to be lethal in the first place. Stop being such a coward!"

It wasn't weak this time. His back arched as if he had been hit by a Cruciatus curse. It wasn't painful in the same way, but it cut off too quickly for him to get a feel for it. "Teach me!" he demanded enthusiastically.

"Tell me what it does."

"If you weren't such a coward I might be able to figure that out!"

He saw the mask slip just before the spell hit him, just before his body exploded with carnal pleasure. Preventing his own reaction was beyond his self-control, but feeling the intensity kick-up a notch told him that Severus was getting off on seeing him like this. He writhed, playing it up in experimentation, and was immediately writhing for real as the spell intensified. Suddenly feeling vulnerable, he tried to tap-out, "Severus..." and ended up crying-out as he was pushed to climax-levels ... and didn't come down...

"Lucius?"

Severus sounded scared, but it was hard to think, impossible to move. He felt himself being lifted, cradled. He tried to speak but it was so difficult to speak...

"Luce?"

He sounded so distressed, "Please..." he managed the barest whisper.

"What?" Severus' voice was almost equally soft, "Please what?"

"I ... hav ... n't ..."

A firm hand pressed into his groin. He gasped as that slight stimulus provided instant, thankfully low-key, relief. It woke him up a little in fact. Enough to whisper 'Thank-you'.

A half-choked laugh answered him, "Just don't die on me now."

"I think I've 'died' enough to last me a lifetime..." his voice was a little stronger now. "You?"

"I lost control... You passed out when I... I thought that I'd killed you... Broken your mind..."

"If the Ministry ever finds out - which they won't from me - they'll need a new catagory of spells."

"Not Unforgivable?"

"More like Unforgettable. Just do me one favour..."

"Teach you?"

"Next time, say it aloud so that I know what I'm trying to dodge."

Severus laughed quietly with relief, "You never will..."

"Don't try to tell me that you will never have the guts to do that again..."

"That's not what I meant." dropping his voice even lower, he whispered softly, "Ex-crutio." and Lucius' world was briefly filled with an overwhelming mixture of relief, despair, happiness, joy, sorrow, regret, gratitude, peace, and post-coital bliss. "How could you ever know what it is that I feel the need to share with you, when I don't know myself how I feel?"

"Maybe that's why it's unblockable." Lucius murmured. "Next time, just don't wait so long to say it. Deal?"

"You have my word."

"Indeed I do, and quite unforgettable it is."

**Author's Note:**

> For those who may wish to borrow this spell for their own works: Headcanon is that it cannot be blocked because it draws its potency from the unblocking of repressed emotions and the process of overcoming self-denial. It covers all the Unforgivable curses in self-reflection: the suicidal kill, the self-hating torture, the powerless subjugate.
> 
> It's Catharsis Incarnate, for you realise what you truly feel only as you continue casting. It's an outpouring of intense emotions too blocked to process internally without expressing it outwardly first. The only thing that can be guaranteed about the outcome is that the caster does not know in advance what will happen, and that they will never be able to forget the revelation that results from casting it.
> 
> Have fun, use at your own risk, and be thankful that this kind of magic exists only in the imagination: For this turns the most impotent (briefly) into the most powerful. It can also castrate the strongest by robbing them of their most core motivations, the things which are driving them to seek power.
> 
> Deus ex machina on a silver platter.


End file.
